Popovich called Zirin, who said he had never heard the Spurs coach so tense with anger.

The conversation reportedly started with Popovich offering Zirin context for his comments, stating as he has before his disappointment with the president. Popovich specifically noted that Trump's claim that Obama did not call Gold Star families "is so beyond the pale, I almost don’t have the words."

Popovich then offered a clear-throated rebuke of the president and those who work for him, calling Trump a "soulless coward," a "pathological liar," and "unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office."

"This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner -- and to lie about how previous Presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers -- is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day."
Gregg Popovich, On Donald Trump

Of those who work under the president, Popovich said they are all aware of how unfit Trump is and that that, "This is their shame most of all."

The San Antonio Spurs tip off their 2017-18 campaign on Wednesday, October 18.